◎They will grow into very formidable players◎
Although she is still not used to the name of the group, Ji Tiantian still feels a burning flame in her heart when she sees the posts from netizens.
She is not fighting alone, there are many people supporting her.
The road must be paved step by step. The difficulties now will not be difficulties in the future.
"Hello. It seems like this is the first time I see you." When Ji Tiantian put away her phone, she saw a beautiful blonde sister walking towards her.
Ji Tiantian had an impression of this blonde sister. After Ji Tiantian walked into the hotel, she saw her always sticking to her lover. She was beautiful and full of passion, and it was hard to ignore her.
"You are so cute. What event are you competing in?" the blonde sister asked Ji Tiantian in accented English.
Ji Tiantian looked at Tang Yi beside her, blinked, and answered "ice dance" in a clear voice.
"Sure enough. Me too." The blonde sister nodded with a smile. "My partner and I were guessing what your sport was, and I said you were an ice dancer. You have a... well, dancer's temperament."
"Really?" Ji Tiantian was a little surprised, "Thank you."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Katerina from Russia, and this is my partner Ilyich." The big goose sister of the famous Katerina introduced herself and her partner. As expected, her lover is her partner.
Ji Tiantian also introduced herself and Tang Yi, subconsciously emphasizing that they were just ordinary partners. Because of his past life experience, Ji Tang's English was fluent, so he had no problem dealing with daily conversations.
"Can I touch your face?" After getting Ji Tiantian's permission, Katelin held Ji Tiantian's face with both hands, "The cutest contestant here is you, the ceramic doll from China."
Katerin couldn't let go of Ji Tiantian's fair face. Tang Yi couldn't stand it and silently pulled Ji Tiantian behind him. At the same time, Katerin's partner also pulled Katerin away.
Katerin grumbled a few words to her partner in dissatisfaction, and then went to talk to lolis from other countries. It was obvious that she had a social stunt.
"Katerin and Ilic are 18 years old this year and are strong contenders for medals in this World Youth Championship. They won the silver medal last year." Tang Yi spoke in Ji Tiantian's ear, "The gold medalists of the last World Youth Championship were Katerin's seniors, who have been promoted to a higher group this season. Now it's Katerin's turn. They are currently the No. 1 in the youth group that Big Goose has high hopes for."
"Oh oh." Ji Tiantian nodded vigorously.
In her previous life, Ji Tiantian was not as interested in ice dancing as she was when she was young after she started working. She didn't remember the earlier young players very clearly, but fortunately Tang Yi reminded her and she was able to recall some of them.
After turning 16, the youth group players can be promoted to the adult group, leaving the World Youth Championships and competing in the more intense adult group competition, the World Championships. This is true for all four figure skating events.
Due to quota allocation and personal planning, not everyone will be promoted after turning 16. Some strong players will stay in the youth group until they get a satisfactory medal and then move up to the next group.
"Big Goose is so amazing." Ji Tiantian looked at Catherine, who was shining like a shining star, and spoke with emotion.
"No way, that little Chinese girl is an ice skater?"
"Yeah, it feels so small. Maybe it's still an elementary school student."
"Can such a young girl achieve good results in ice skating and dancing?"
Just then, a discussion was heard from the side.
Ji Tiantian turned to look at the people who were discussing. They were a group of British contestants. They seemed to have heard what she and Katerin had just said.
"She's probably just here for sightseeing. People in her country probably don't expect her to get a high ranking."
“There are very few Asian players this time.”
"How big should the tour group be?"
"Lillian, you are so sharp-tongued."
Then there was a burst of laughter. They did not avoid Ji Tiantian's gaze, after all, they regarded her as a primary school student who posed no threat.
Ji Tiantian could tell from their conversation that the two people at the center of the conversation were Lillian and Michael, a man and a woman. Both of them spoke with sharp tongues, and although they were smiling, their expressions were full of arrogance.
"Do you know the two British contestants they are discussing?" Ji Tiantian pulled Tang Yi's sleeve and signaled with her eyes, "It looks like... they are also ice dancers?"
"Lillian and Michael, 17 years old this year, were bronze medalists in last year's World Youth Championships and are the top youth team in the UK," Tang Yi replied. "They are also strong contenders for medals this year."
"No wonder." No wonder he was so proud. Ji Tiantian looked at the British contestant again.
Lillian and Michael were surrounded by four young athletes from their country. These young athletes looked at them with admiration, treating them as excellent and reliable predecessors. And the two of them really looked like reliable adults, beautiful, reserved, and with the aura of a strong person.
From time to time, contestants would ask for autographs and photos from the Katelin and Lillian groups. It was obvious who was the most anticipated contestant in this competition.
Ji Tiantian puffed up her face in dissatisfaction.
"Don't care what they say." Tang Yi said to Ji Tiantian.
"Tang Yi, do I really look like an elementary school student?" Ji Tiantian held back but still asked.
Tang Yi was silent for a long time before he spoke: "But Katelin just said that you have the temperament of a dancer."
"That doesn't prove anything!" Ji Tiantian said angrily.
Soon they lined up and completed the check-in procedures. Ji Tiantian and Jiang Lin lived in one room, while Tang Yi and Xu Chi lived in another. Ni Chuan was rich and paid for a single room.
Tired from the journey, Ji Tiantian fell asleep immediately. The next day, after getting up and doing some physical training in the room, she went to queue up with Tang Yi to draw the tickets for the preliminary round.
There were a total of 20 pairs from all over the world participating in the ice dance preliminaries. Ji Tiantian stood in the line and looked around.
Some of the players look almost 20 years old. If they come to participate in the youth group preliminaries at the age of 20, they are probably really here for sightseeing. After all, they can go to the adult group at this age. If they don’t move up to the adult group, there must be better players than them in the adult group. If they deliberately don’t move up to the adult group for the sake of medals, they won’t compete in the preliminaries.
Some of the players from Europe look very young and seem difficult to deal with.
Ji Tiantian also saw the pair of ice dancers who had been talking to Lillian's group before, and they were also going to participate in the preliminary round this time. They looked younger than Lillian's group, but their strength was probably not bad.
The number of places a country gets in the World Junior Championships and whether it has to participate in the preliminaries is determined by the performance of the previous contestants. The British ice dance team is not bad, and the team entered the preliminaries this time because the contestants in the previous contest did not perform well.
"You come." It was Ji Tang's turn to draw lots, and Tang Yi spoke to Ji Tiantian.
"My turn again?" Ji Tiantian rubbed her hands nervously. She still remembered the achievement of being the first to appear in the National Championships.
"You're quite capable to have drawn first place." Tang Yi watched Ji Tiantian start drawing lots.
Then Ji Tiantian drew number 20.
"Great! The last group is better than the first!" Ji Tiantian breathed a sigh of relief.
The day after the draw, the preliminary rounds began. Twenty pairs of players were divided into four groups. Each group went on stage one by one, and the entire group had to warm up before going on stage.
Although they were the last to perform, Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi still arrived at the competition venue early and checked each other to see if there was anything wrong with Costen.
The preliminary round is a free dance. If they make it to the final round, they will have to do one more free dance than the contestants who did not participate in the preliminary round. Of course, the final ranking is still determined by the short dance and free dance. The preliminary round only determines the qualification for the final round.
On the bright side, the preliminaries are a warm-up before the main competition, and are a good way to familiarize yourself with the venue, which is actually quite good.
Ji Tiantian was waiting for the game to start at the edge of the ice. The preliminaries were not as popular as the main events, so the audience seats were sparsely populated. Ni Chuan, who had come early to take a seat, looked particularly conspicuous, sitting alone in the middle.
"Sister Tiantian! Brother Yi! Come on!" Ni Chuan shouted while sitting in the empty audience seats.
Ji Tiantian smiled and waved to Ni Chuan, then spoke to Tang Yi: "Didn't you tell him that he didn't have to come so early for the preliminaries?"
"He said it, but he just wanted to come earlier." Tang Yi closed his eyes helplessly.
"I'm a little envious. You have a really good relationship." Ji Tiantian said sincerely.
"Not really. He is just looking forward to seeing his country's players compete." Tang Yi said with a faint smile, "Although he seems to be idle, he is actually quite patriotic."
"Really?" Ji Tiantian was a little surprised. After her rebirth, she had a new understanding of many people.
In her previous life, she had never thought that Wang Hao, who seemed to care nothing, cared so much about their relationship as dance partners, nor had she thought that Ni Chuan, who seemed to be idle, had a sincere heart. Life is a treasure, and she often missed the opportunity to dig carefully.
"Lillian, I'm so nervous. Should I have no problem with the preliminaries?"
At this moment, a voice came from behind. Ji Tiantian turned around and saw the British juniors who were going to participate in the preliminaries talking to their senior Lillian.
There weren't many spectators at the preliminaries, but there were many contestants. Although Lillian's team didn't have to participate in the preliminaries, they also came to cheer for the younger generation of their country. The younger generation of the British team seemed to be very nervous, and their voices were trembling.
"Don't worry, with the elementary school student tour group here, you will have no problem in the preliminaries." Lillian comforted in a firm voice.
Ji Tiantian felt a little disappointed. She didn't feel like a primary school student before she left the country. As expected, some things can only be understood by comparison.
Indeed, compared to the ice dancers around her, she looked very young. At the same age of 13, ice dancers from Europe and America already looked very good, but she still looked like a stick, with no development anywhere, and her eyebrows and eyes still looked like a child.
This time, in order to make herself look more mature, she put on heavier makeup.
"I'm sorry." Tang Yi's voice suddenly rang in her ears. Ji Tiantian looked at him blankly.
Tang Yi was silent for a moment, and continued: "Actually, you don't have to face these."
If he hadn't insisted on teaming up with her, she could have taken her time choosing a dance partner, trained in the country for a year or two, and then headed for international competitions.
That way she would be more prepared and wouldn't be called a primary school student like this.
"If you regard me as a partner, please stop saying such things." Ji Tiantian smiled at Tang Yi, "This is also the path I chose. You have done nothing wrong to me."
Tang Yi lowered his eyes and looked at Ji Tiantian, then nodded gently: "Okay."
The preliminaries will begin soon.
Maybe they were too nervous for their first performance, or maybe it was just their level, but the scores of the first two groups of 10 pairs of skaters in the preliminary round looked a bit tragic. Many skaters scored over 30 points in the free dance, and even over 40 points.
The tragic situation reminded Ji Tiantian of the National Championships. It can be seen that the gap between the ice dance level of many countries and the strong countries is quite large.
"How could this happen? The referee seems so strict..."
"Yeah, how could it be only over thirty points..."
Ji Tiantian stood on the ice, listening to the other players' discussions, and couldn't help but become nervous.
This was her first time participating in an international competition, and she was ready to be treated strictly by international judges. Even so, she still felt a little uneasy when she saw the low scores popping up on the display screen.
The contestants sitting in the waiting area received their results. Although they were frustrated, they still had to put on a strong smile to the camera facing them.
Everyone has come here after a long period of hard training, and everyone wants to get good results, but reality is always crueler than dreams. She can empathize with those players.
Beautiful music continued to echo on the ice, and the contestants created one beautiful dream after another, but the scores were cruel and cold.
After a few more groups, it was the turn of the British junior group.
Young British boys and girls performed their free dance competition to the instrumental Bandari's "Sounds of Silence".
The dancing and skating skills of the two pairs of contestants were remarkable, just like two butterflies chasing each other on the ice. After the performance, there was warm applause from the audience.
The audience may not be able to understand all the movements of the players, but excellent players have their own temperament and can dance on the ice with ease, which makes people immersed in it.
Then their scores were displayed.
The technical score is 35.65, the program content score is 37.03, and the total score is 72.68, ranking first temporarily.
"Wow, it's better than I thought!" The female companion of the British junior group came out of the waiting area and jumped excitedly holding the hand of her senior Lillian. "I didn't turn one turn less, so I knew I would be demoted, but I didn't expect to get such a good score!"
"You performed well in other technical moves. The twist was downgraded to level 3, which means one less basic point than level 4, but your execution score should be good. Your lift and spin should both be level 4, and the step sequence score may be level 2, which is already very good. The program content score also shows that your performance was recognized by the judges." Lillian was also really happy for the younger generation of her country. "Congratulations, this score is definitely first in the preliminaries. If you maintain this state and enter the main competition, your score will definitely be high!"
"Yes, we seem to be the first pair to score over 70 points today!" The younger generation's voice was still excited.
"We will be the only couple." Lillian's smile was full of confidence and arrogance. "Those elementary school students and tourist groups can't compare to you."
"Ignore those people." Tang Yi turned his head and glanced at Ji Tiantian who was silent.
"I was thinking, if we perform well this time, then we won't be alone in the next World Youth Championship, right?" Ji Tiantian looked up at Tang Yi's eyes, her round eyes sparkling, "We will have companions too."
"Yes." Tang Yi nodded, "There will definitely be one."
"Please prepare to go on stage for warm-up." A cold English voice came from the radio.
Ji Tang is ready to go on stage.
Ji Tiantian turned around and saw Xu Chi looking at them, as if he wanted to say something but hesitated, so she smiled and asked, "Coach, what do you want to say? Tell us. We have practiced those movements many times. Even if our brains don't remember them, our bodies remember them. They won't be affected by your words."
"I mean, I don't usually praise you because I'm worried that international scoring is much stricter than domestic scoring. I'm afraid that if I praise you too much, you won't be able to adapt if the scores are not ideal." Xu Chi paused and smiled widely. "But I just figured it out. The scores don't matter. No matter what, you are all the most capable young players in our country. You usually practice very well, which amazes me, Clara, and everyone in the team. You are the best, so give it a try."
"You just joined the national team, but Coach Jiang and I always put forward very strict requirements. Thank you for never thinking of backing down, always persisting, and being willing to accommodate us." After Xu Chi finished speaking, he looked at Ji Tiantian with a much softer look in his eyes, "You are really amazing and sensible. Tiantian, you have worked hard these days."
"I don't feel it's hard at all. These are what I like to do." Ji Tiantian said with a smile.
"That's good." Xu Chi smiled, then patted Tang Yi on the back of his neck, "I won't say anything to you. Play well. Tell everyone that you are the best."
"Okay." Tang Yi nodded, "Then let's go warm up."
"Go ahead!"
Ji Tang came to the edge of the ice and began to take off his knife sheath.
"Sister Tiantian! Brother Yi!" Ni Chuan's loud voice was heard again in the audience.
Ji Tiantian couldn't help but look up at the audience.
As the ice dance preliminaries came to the last group, the already empty auditorium became even more deserted. There was no one around Ni Chuan.
Unlike the increasingly competitive free dance competition in the finals, the order of the preliminary rounds was decided by drawing lots, and the contestants' skill levels were also random. Many viewers saw the performance of the British junior group and assumed that they were the first in the preliminary rounds, and left satisfied. Many people did not have the patience to watch the entire preliminary round.
"Now that the competition is over, go back and rest. The draw for the main competition will be tomorrow." Not far away, Lillian was urging the juniors to leave. "There's nothing to see later."
"Wait a minute, finish watching." The juniors still insisted, "If you don't finish watching, I don't know if we are first."
"That's for sure." Lillian's team looked at the younger team who were not giving in and sighed, "Forget it, I'll just accompany you to see it."
Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi started to warm up on the ice. Ji Tiantian glanced at the cold and quiet audience seats, feeling a little melancholy.
She loves performing and also values the feedback from the audience. It is hard for her to display her performance skills in an audience that obviously does not give much feedback.
She took a deep breath. Choreographer Clara was not here at the moment, she was in her country helping the adult group prepare for the competition, but she still remembered what Clara said.
"For a long time, Asian athletes have given people the impression that they are not good at performance in competitive competitions. Ice dancing places special emphasis on performance. Therefore, if you want to achieve outstanding results in ice dancing, you must work very hard. You must make unimaginable efforts to completely break the prejudices that shackle you. However, you must also know that breaking prejudices is not something that can be done overnight. Be prepared and do your best."
Do your best and be prepared.
Ji Tiantian came to her senses and found that the warm-up was complete.
The last group of players took to the field one by one, and the results display screen was constantly refreshed.
Ji Tang's previous group finished well, with 68 points. Although it didn't exceed 70, it was still very good. There was still applause from the cold audience.
It’s Ji Tang’s turn to play.
Ji Tiantian looked at Tang Yi's coat. He had already opened two buttons on his chest, and Ji Tiantian opened the third one for him.
"Does this mean I don't need to observe male ethics?" Tang Yi frowned and looked at Ji Tiantian.
"I knew you were going to argue with me. Let me tell you, competition comes first, and men's ethics come second." Ji Tiantian straightened Tang Yi's clothes and nodded with satisfaction, "Well, this makes me look more mature. Not bad."
"Sometimes I really feel like I'm your prop." Tang Yi felt helpless.
"No way, it's just a button, don't think too much about it." Ji Tiantian said. I don't know if it was a psychological effect, but after she did this, she actually felt a lot more at ease.
"Next group, China, Ji Tiantian, Tang Yi." A cold English voice came from the radio.
Ji Tiantian suddenly felt her heart pounding.
Their titles no longer represent South City and the national team, but represent an entire country.
Her beloved motherland.
With a smile on her face, she and Tang Yi stepped onto the ice, back to back.
"Great! Great!" In the audience, only Ni Chuan gave them a warm round of applause.
Ji Tiantian closed her eyes gently.
She was a dancer in her previous life and had a personal understanding of the impact of the audience. The size of the audience and the atmosphere had a huge impact on her.
She is not a "crowd-pleasure" person, nor is she unhappy when seeing fewer people. Rather, many of the things that dance wants to express and the momentum it displays can only be conveyed more easily when the atmosphere is high.
However, she has grown more now than she did then.
Although Ni Chuan was the only one in the audience, she knew that there were many people looking forward to her online and in the national team.
The next young pair who want to step onto the world stage must also be looking forward to them.
Their free dance selection, "VIVA LA VIDA", rang out loudly in an instant.
The warm notes filled the air.
Ji Tiantian opened her eyes and slowly smiled brightly. She began to dance.
With a series of skillful pointe dance steps, jumps, and turns, she and Tang Yi started chasing each other on the ice.
She followed the inner and outer hook steps with the bow steps, and then quickly and smoothly entered the synchronized twisting steps. Her steps were clean and skillful. She held her neck high, and her expression was always full of confidence.
"This... this girl doesn't look like an elementary school student at all?" The female companion of the British junior group couldn't help but exclaimed, "This Chinese girl's dancing feels completely different from usual, like she's a different person!"
"Her male partners are also very skilled... They look... totally different from the other preliminaries contestants, right?" The male partners of the junior group were also shocked. "Why on earth would such experts appear in the preliminaries?"
"At this age and this level, even in the main competition... they are very scary." The female companion of the junior group immediately took out her mobile phone to check, "Why haven't I seen such players before? I'll check their results. What's their name... Ji... Tang..."
After checking for a while, she exclaimed again: "Their season results are not recorded on the official website of the International Skating Union! So there is only one possibility... This is their first time representing the country!"
"Are you kidding? Is this the first time you perform like this?"
"How is that possible?" Lillian almost blurted out.
How is it possible that such a dark horse would emerge from an Asian country in the preliminaries! And he is so young!
Lillian held on to the railing beside her tightly, and her breathing became rapid.
For ice dancers who don't have enough skills, looking immature is indeed a disadvantage. Due to physical limitations, they cannot express many deep emotions.
But it is a different story for ice dancers with good skills. Their young age means they still have a lot of room for improvement, and ice dancing usually does not have the situation of suddenly collapsing halfway through growth.
They're going to be really scary players.
There is ample time.
Lillian opened her eyes wide in astonishment, and at the same time, Ji Tiantian stepped on Tang Yi's legs to the climax of the music. She stood on one foot, raised the other leg high behind her, and bent her body backwards at the same time.
She raised her hands and smiled brilliantly, the light shining on her face like the dawn of victory.
So what if no one watches.
She is still a banner, waving before her defeated enemies.
"Oh, this is incredible..." The male and female partners of the British junior team maintained a dazed look on their faces, "How could it be that there is suddenly a pair of contestants like this..."
Lillian no longer cared to talk to the junior group.
Just before this, she would never have thought... that she would feel such a strong sense of threat from this girl who looked like an elementary school student!
After the joint rotation, Ji Tang and his partner finished their preliminary free dance amid applause and surprise. Because it was a preliminary round, there were not many spectators, so no one threw dolls down.
"Okay, okay!" Ni Chuan still had the most intense reaction.
Ji Tang saluted as usual, then slid to the exit and put on the hard knife sheath from his coach.
"That's great! The moves were executed very well! You performed even better than in the National Championships! You opened the eyes of many contestants!" Xu Chi and Jiang Lin proudly hugged the contestants they were proud of, as the other contestants looked on in a trance.
"What's wrong? Does it hurt somewhere?" Jiang Lin noticed that Ji Tiantian's expression was a little subtle, so she looked at her and asked with concern.
"No," Ji Tiantian shook her head gently, "I just felt that just now... a few of the expressions were not done well, and I could have performed better."
Xu Chi couldn't help but gasp after hearing this: "You're still not satisfied?"
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